Las Vegas, NV (Sports Network) - Caleb Herring threw for 178 yards and two
touchdowns as he helped lead the UNLV Rebels to a surprising 40-20 win over
the Hawaii Warriors in non-conference action at Sam Boyd Stadium.

Herring completed 17-of-29 passes for the Rebels (1-2) as they picked up their
first win of the 2011 season. Phillip Payne caught both scoring passes from
Herring, while Tim Cornett's 80-yard TD run in the first quarter was the
longest rushing score for UNLV in more than two decades.

The Warriors (1-2) were paced by quarterback Bryant Moniz who connected on 20-
of-36 passes for 233 yards and a couple of scores, both to Justin Clapp who
was making his first career start in place of an injured Jeremiah Ostrowski.
Clapp finished the meeting with nine catches for 83 yards. Billy Ray Stutzmann
accounted for nine catches as well for another 136 yards.

The Rebels opened the meeting with 17 straight points, thanks to a 40-yard
field goal by Nolan Kohorst, the lengthy TD run by Cornett and a six-yard
passing TD from Herring to Payne.

Hawaii, which was credited with a mere six net rushing yards in the meeting,
finally got on the board at the 6:11 mark of the second quarter, courtesy of a
10-yard scoring pass from Moniz to Clapp, making the score 17-7 at the break.

Kohorst added a 50-yard field goal in the third frame for the Rebels, but not
before Herring hooked up with Payne on a 33-yard TD pass play.

Trailing by 20 points, Moniz directed the Warriors on an eight-play, 76-yard
drive that culminated with a 24-yard TD pass to Clapp to cut the deficit to
27-14 heading into the final period of play.

Consuming close to six minutes, an 11-play drive by UNLV was finished off by
Cornett who hit the end zone on a one-yard run early in the fourth quarter.
Bradley Randle added a one-yard TD run of his own for the Rebels, pushing them
to a commanding 40-14 edge.

In the final minutes the Warriors put forth a last-ditch effort that paid off
with a one-yard TD run by David Graves, but like the Rebels earlier in the
quarter, Hawaii failed on a two-point conversion attempt, leaving them with a
20-point loss.

One of the top offenses in the nation last season, Hawaii was limited to just
290 yards on the night.

UNLV, which had been outscored by a combined 110-24 in the first two games of
the 2011 campaign versus Wisconsin and Washington State, had one of the
weakest pass defenses in the Football Bowl Subdivision with 364.5 ypg allowed
heading into weekend action, yet the squad still handled Moniz who led the
nation in total offense last season (367.3 ypg).

The win for the Rebels was just their second in the last 12 outings, the team
topping Wyoming on November 13, 2010 by a score of 42-16.